Month: June 2003

Dear Dave,

Assuming that you are calm down now and it is my turn, I would like to give you a sermon.I am posting on my blog because you didn't return my recent e-mails. Don't be surprised if it comes at an angle you didn't expect for I have had this thought for a while now.

Where the f**k do you get off asking questions like "Who is Ben Trott?"

Ben is just a guy who was doing what he liked to do and voicing his opinions timidly like everyone else.I gave him my feedback for his own good and not for your benefit.He did a good job with MT and now he got something going with Six Apart.I don't know him and I don't care if ever do.I have met you several times and I liked most of your personalities except the part where you tear people apart by asking condescending questions like you did with Dave and criticizing friends for having their own f**king opinions.

Dave, what do people have to do to have opinions of their own and still be your friend or have a civilized conversation with you?Is there some unknown minimum requirement?Knowing you, I don't think so.Being pissed off out of your mind is no excuse to tear apart people like you did.Is RSS that f**king important to the world?I don't think so.

If Ben is a nobody, so are you for no one cares for people who will sacrifice people over technology.RSS is like that cherry on top of the ice cream.People would like to have it, but are not willing to lick the floor to get it.

Turn back the dials on your pissed-off meter, sit back on your chair, and show the world that you are worthy of our respect for you, Dave.

"There are very few people in the world who I trust to add none of their own bullshit. [snip] People sometimes bend over backwards to appear to be fair and say things that are wrong. I think I caught Don Park doing that. Hey Don, is <dc:date> really better than <pubDate>? That sounds like bullshit to me. Sounds like you're trying to get someone to think you're reasonable. Weren't you the one who told me to never be reasonable? That was good advice."

"Ben of Six Apart explains why Six Apart has pledged support for Echo. Unfortunately, his list of reasons are mostly resolvable technical complaints against RSS. For example, Ben writes that Dublin Core elements are technically superior. I'll agree with that."

Just before getting married, I told my wife of my Selfish Pig Rage Rule which is:

Wait your turn

For eleven good years, that rule worked well for us. I also use the rule with friends. So Dave, I apologize for upsetting you and how I will upset you when my turn comes unless I forget to. Chances are, I'll just forget to get pissed off since that is why the Rule really works.

Now, I will say these "designed to make you feel guilty" words though. Dave, the operative word was 'technically.' That word may be interpreted in many ways, some bad, some good. Frankly, I am surprised that you, a friend, chose to interpret it in a way that leads you to sum it up as bullsh*t.

Also, my advice to be unreasonable was my attempt to address your habit of bending over at the wrong time and getting shafted badly, which just builds up emotional stress in you until you blow up seemingly for no reason, catching most people unaware and upset at you. Since you obviously missed what I was trying to point out to you, here it is:

If you can't handle the big waves of emotional ups and downs, make the waves smaller. I have similar problems so I made the waves smaller by being unreasonable more regularly and in smaller magnitudes. I also use humor to minimize stress on people around me.

<

p dir=”ltr”>What I wrote above is not some attempt to be reasonable or clever. This is how I survive being me day to day, Dave. You can find your own solutions if this doesn't fit you.

My first broadband at home was @Home which started a not so jolly adventure in which I felt I was at the receiving end of a gang-bang. After getting bad service from @Home, and more of the same from AT&T, I am now in the hands of Comcast. June 30th was the switch over from AT&T to Comcast which was confusing to say the least.

Their Transition Wizard did nothing for my setup except do annoying things like changing my browser home to www.comcast.net. And then I had to dig around Comcast site to find the POP3 and SMTP addresses which are:

POP3: mail.comcast.netSMTP: smtp.comcast.net

Your username and password remains the same. You can't change any of your mailbox settings just now because Comcast.net website won't let you login using those username and password just now. Customer service guy told me to give it 24 hours out of which I have only 8 hours left as of this post.

One major bad news is that USENET support is now provided by GigaNews, but with 1 gig per month cap. Getting started ain't easy either. You have to login to Comcast.net website (which you can't at the moment) and turn it on somehow and then wait for GigaNews to send you the password (I think the username at GigaNews is your Comcast login name prefixed with "gn". BTW, GigaNews newsgroup server address is:

news-central.giganews.com

Update 1: A little more on newsgroup situation. Old AT&T newsgroup server is still available at 'netnews.comcast.net' although I don't know how long it will last. Another part of Comcast.net website indicates that the Giganews newsgroup server address is:

news.comcast.giganews.com

although I couldn't login yet just like Comcast.net website. Phewy.

Update 2: I was finally able to login. Newsgroup server address is indeed news.comcast.giganews.com. Hurrah! BTW, GigaNews username and password has no relation to Comcast username and password.

Google's AdSense is cool, but I want what I would call AdSelect for my blog that allows me to pick and choose which ad I want to display out of a set filtered by Google advertisers' criterias. This would allow me to post ads about products or businesses I have bought or am a customer of like Casio Exilim EX-Z3 or Sharper Image. I don't want ads that I have nothing to do with. All right, I'll be frank. I don't want ads that I have nothing to do with unless they pay me more money. Better?